Clinging fish

Clinging fish

　　The clinging fish is a specialty of Fuxian Lake. The artificial domestication and breeding of clinging fish was an agricultural science and technology project undertaken by the Yunnan Provincial Department of Science and Technology. After two years of exploration and meticulous care by the project team and technicians, the 5,000 clinging fish bred artificially at the Haikou Clinging Fish Farm successfully spawned for the first time on May 6 and 7, 2002, after hormone treatment and artificial simulation of their natural spawning behavior. The eggs hatched into fry on May 10. A second spawning occurred on May 14 and 15, yielding a total of over 50,000 fry from both batches. By July 24, 2002, the Haikou Clinging Fish Farm had 400,000 two-year-old clinging fish measuring 6–8 cm and 200,000 one-year-old fish measuring 1–1.5 cm. This marked the successful artificial domestication and breeding of the clinging fish. Through more than two years of research, the scientific team had initially mastered the fish’s full life cycle, behavior patterns, artificial rearing techniques, and disease prevention measures, laying a solid material and technical foundation for further studies and the restoration of the clinging fish population.

　　To further refine the artificial breeding techniques, expand production scale, and facilitate the rapid recovery of the clinging fish population, the “Chengjiang County Fuxian Lake Clinging Fish Artificial Breeding Evaluation Meeting” was organized by the Chengjiang County Science and Technology Bureau and the Chengjiang County Water Resources Bureau, and hosted by the Yuxi City Science and Technology Bureau on July 26, 2002. The meeting was attended by 46 participants, including an expert evaluation panel on artificial breeding of clinging fish, members of the project team, leaders from relevant provincial, municipal, and county-level departments, and media representatives. The agenda included a presentation by the project team on the implementation status, questions from experts and leaders, responses from the team, and evaluation feedback from the panel. The meeting gave full recognition to the success of the artificial breeding efforts. It was recommended that the project team, along with the county science and technology and water resources bureaus, develop plans to report to the municipal Party committee and government regarding fry quantities, development scale, and other aspects, in order to secure additional funding. This would enable the hard-won technology to take effect as soon as possible, facilitate the recovery of the clinging fish population, benefit local residents around the lake, and promote the development of tourism in Fuxian Lake. At the same time, it would serve as a model for the population recovery of endangered species and the industrialized production of notable aquatic species.